Stobaeus, Volume I

Name: Stobaeus, Volume I
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 49 · I.49.39.2–I.49.39.3

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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.39.2–I.49.39.3

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Ancient Greek

p. 1206

39.2

I.49.39.2

Πολὺ δὲ διαφερόντως ἔοικεν ὁ Τίμαιος τὴν πρώτην ὑπόστασιν τῶν ψυχῶν ποιεῖν, τὸν δημιουργὸν διασπείροντα περὶ πάντα μὲν τὰ κρείττονα γένη, καθ᾽ ὅλον δὲ τὸν οὐρανόν, εἰς ὅλα δὲ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ παντός.

39.3

I.49.39.3

Ἔσται δὴ οὖν καὶ ἡ σπορὰ ἡ δημιουργικὴ τῶν ψυχῶν διαιρουμένη παρὰ τὰς θείας δημιουργίας καὶ ἡ πρώτη τῶν ψυχῶν πρόοδος συνυφισταμένη, μεθ᾽ ἑαυτῆς ἔχουσα τὰ δεξόμενα τὰς ψυχάς· ἡ μὲν ὅλη τὸν ὅλον κόσμον, αἱ δὲ τῶν ἐμφανῶν θεῶν τὰς κατ᾽ οὐρανὸν σφαίρας, αἱ δὲ τῶν στοιχείων αὐτὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα μεθ᾽ ὧν καὶ ψυχαὶ συνεκληρώθησαν καθ᾽ ἑκάστην τοιαύτην λῆξιν, ἀφ᾽ ὧν δὴ αἱ κάθοδοι γίγνονται τῶν ψυχῶν ἄλλαι ἀπ᾽ ἄλλων διακληρώσεων, ὡς βούλεται ἐνδείκνυσθαι σαφῶς ἡ τοῦ Τιμαίου διάταξις.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1207

39.2 · Different first allotments in the Timaeus

I.49.39.2

The Timaeus, however, appears to give souls a markedly differentiated first subsistence, presenting the demiurge as sowing them among all the higher kinds, throughout the whole heaven, and into all the elements of the universe.¹⁴⁸⁰

39.3 · Procession and its recipients

I.49.39.3

Thus the creative sowing of souls will be differentiated according to the divine acts of creation, and souls’ first procession will arise together with it, having with itself what is to receive them: the universal soul, the whole cosmos; the souls of the visible gods, the heavenly spheres; and those of the elements, the elements themselves, with which souls too were jointly allotted in each such assignment. From these allotments the descents of souls occur, different descents from different allocations, as the arrangement of the Timaeus clearly intends to indicate.¹⁴⁸¹

1480.The author is interpreting the Timaeus’s account of the demiurge’s distribution of souls. Hypostasis here denotes their first subsistence or establishment. The English supplies “presenting” to complete the abbreviated construction; it is not a marked restoration in the Greek. The three spheres of distribution, higher kinds, heaven, and elements, are preserved separately.

1481.The Greek moves from the singular “first procession” to an abbreviated list of souls and their recipients; the English makes that list explicit without replacing the printed wording. The language of allotment, lēxis and diaklērōsis, connects each descent to a prior assignment. “Jointly allotted” preserves the association of souls with the elements rather than identifying them with those elements.

About This Reading Edition

Stobaeus gathered Greek philosophy and poetry for his son Septimius. Volume I presents the dedication testimony, On Arithmetic, Book I through chapter 60, and the ancient contents of all four books. This complete bilingual edition includes an introduction and 2,117 explanatory notes.

Historical Text and Translation

The Greek follows Curt Wachsmuth’s 1884 Volume I, checked against the supplied scan. Gaps, lost-chapter headings, and uncertain attributions remain visible. Chapter 2 includes a labeled proposed reconstruction. The appendix outlines Books I–IV; the full texts of Books II–IV are outside this volume. Reader pages preserve the companion PDF’s numbering.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the Greek. Prose and verse retain their distinct forms, with mixed passages preserving their quoted verse. Every passage is paired with its Greek and identified by the edition’s reference number. All 2,117 notes remain linked to their passages, with continuous numbering across the introduction and text.

Rights

Stobaeus’s ancient Greek work and Wachsmuth’s 1884 printing are in the public domain. The independent English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. The complete supplied edition is available as PDF, EPUB, Word, and Markdown. The PDF retains the fixed page locations used by the companion lexicon.